New London v. Speer

Citations

• 227 Conn. App. 221

Syllabus

The plaintiff, the city of New London, sought to recover a balance due for water and sewer services provided to the defendant's property. The defendant filed a counterclaim alleging that she was a debtor in a pending bankruptcy action at the time the underlying action was commenced, and sought damages for the plaintiff's alleged violation of the automatic stay imposed by the United States Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C. § 362). The trial court granted the plaintiff's motion to dismiss the counterclaim, finding that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction to hear the action. On the defendant's appeal to this court, held that the trial court improp- erly dismissed the defendant's counterclaim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction: considering the express statutory language in 11 U.S.C. § 362 (k) creating a right to damages for individuals injured by violations of the automatic stay, and consistent with federal precedent construing the same, 11 U.S.C. § 362 (k) authorized an independent cause of action for damages that survived the disposition of the underlying bankruptcy case; moreover, this court concluded, consistent with the majority of federal appellate courts, that the plain language of the federal statute (28 U.S.C. § 1334) governing bankruptcy cases and proceedings grants federal district courts original and exclusive jurisdiction over the bank- ruptcy petition only, and that a claim for damages pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362 (k) was not a bankruptcy petition and did not fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal district courts; furthermore, the clear statutory language in 28 U.S.C. § 1334 (b) distinguishing between the exclusive and ''not exclusive'' jurisdiction of the federal district courts reinforced the presumption of concurrent state court jurisdiction over the federal claim for damages pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362 (k) and compelled the conclusion that an action for damages pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362 (k) is a civil proceeding arising under title